The Automat (2021)

Colin Powell: Self - U.S. Secretary of State

Quotes 

• Self - U.S. Secretary of State : The one we would usually go to is the Automat that was at 42nd Street. We never even thought about the fact that I'm a black kid, should I go into Horn & Hardart? Is it okay to go to the Automat? All the Automats had that beautiful diversity that didn't exist in most of the rest of the country - of economic standing, of color, of ethnicity, of language. You'd never know what you'd run into in an Automat.

• Self - U.S. Secretary of State : This photo was taken when I was about seven years old, living in the south Bronx, immigrant family, not making a great deal of money. So, you have to understand we almost never went to a restaurant. I don't ever remember going to a restaurant anywhere in the south Bronx. We always ate at home or over at a relative. So, going to an Automat was not just the experience of seeing this mechanized food delivery system, it was going to a restaurant. And as a kid it was such a thrill to walk into this place. Sparkling. It shone - it literally blasted you with the marble and with the tables that were marble. And there it is. This wall of little compartments. The beautiful chrome rimmed knobs. And you knew that it was somebody behind those little compartments, you never saw them, but you knew they had to be there. And, better than that, the food was good.